The Yankees won it 4-2 to save the game of the day and recover over .500 this season. Hard to say it was a good day, far from it! – but honestly it could have been a lot worse. I thought it was going to be a lot worse based on Round 1 of Game 1, so I’ll take it.
Let’s go straight to take-out.
1. The evil Nestor succeeds: Nasty Nestor gave us nuances of 2019 with this performance today. He had 3.1 IPs in his longest outing of the season, allowing just 2 hits and a point. He took out 4 and didn’t make anyone walk. Here is its plot of the game, which tells the story:
There is a lot of white space around the middle and you can see it working in the area on both sides of the plate. An effective strategy, that is to say. He had 9 puffs on 28 swings (32%), induced tons of soft contact (average exit speed of 85 mph) and was heavy fastball (46%). Cortes and his abnormal deliveries have been one of the few bright spots of the Yankees’ 2021 season, and tonight was no different. He was very, very good, and he still was.
2. Darren O’Day does not: Unfortunately, Aaron Boone pulled Cortes out of the game in the 4th inning after giving up a brace. Let’s say it didn’t work out very well for him, unlike most recent decisions. He went to see Darren O’Day, who I continue to be excited about, so I’m not overly critical of Boone. It’s just that Cortes was pitching well and O’Day pitched here:
To Pete Alonso, who sent him deep into the right seats. It went 3-2, and he charged Cortes a run. Gah. He then beat hitters back to back before settling in and shutting the door. He kept the lead, but it was really iconic of the season. Really, nothing is working for the Yankees these days. Launch decisions, alignment decisions, lift management. Nothing. This was another example, although it did not ultimately end in disaster.
3. That said, Chad’s green rules: Ah, Chad Green. My favorite. Our man walked in and slammed the door of it. He had none of the issues with Darren O’Day. It’s certain. He pitched 3 perfect innings on relief, striking out 6 in the process. It was a great, great performance on his part. The Mets never stood a chance against everyone’s bullpen son, Chad Green, and it was glorious. Here is his pitch chart:
He had a ridiculous 40% breath rate per hit, 38% of which was on his fastball. In several rounds. Just a totally vintage Chad Green 2017 game.
4. The offense does a little but enough: Not a good night for the offense, but they did enough to get the job done. The second round was where most of the damage was done. It all started with a double from Luke Voit and a single from Rougned Odor. This brought in Gio Urshela, who kind of hit that pitch:
In the seats on the right. This took the Yankees to 3-0 and that would have been enough to win the game. Urshela has been a bit mediocre in 2021 offensively – .274 / .316 / .452 (109 wRC +) on the season – but it was a big home run to give them the lead after a one-match debacle this after. -midday. Huge success at the right time. This is an example of capitalizing when you have a chance, which is going too far between this year in 2021. Well. It was at least a great victory.
Leftovers
- Brett Gardner Wheels: Brett Gardner scored the Yankees’ 4th run on wild ground. His wheels paid off for the Yankees in this one. He was 0-1 with a walk and a run.
- Powerful vacuum cleaner: Difficult night for Judge, Stanton and Sánchez. They went 0-9 with three strikeouts.
Fortunately, the Yankees leave tomorrow. This means that we can not watch them! Good news everywhere. They will return there on Tuesday, when they go to Seattle for a trip to the West Coast. Jameson Taillon (3-4, 5.43 ERA) will face Justus Sheffield (5-7, 5.88 ERA) in this one. Enjoy your night, everyone.